Using Joint Ventures To Build Your Database and Sales

Joint ventures allow you to partner with other online businesses who have already built significant databases of subscribers who can even go into the hundreds of thousands. They’ve already built a strong relationship with these subscribers and if you can get them to endorse a product or service that you have to offer to their list, that can increase your credibility and your sales.

Also, you have your database of names and they can mail to your list. You want to make sure the product or service they offer is relevant to what you want for your list. You want to make sure it will be a mutual win-win situation where whatever you offer to their list will benefit them and whatever they offer to your list will benefit your subscribers.

A great way to start that relationship would be to go to Google and search for businesses using keywords that are relevant to your niche. Look for the top 20 websites to see what type of products and services they offer, look at their Alexa ratings to see how many visitors they get, look at their page rank, inbound links and make sure whichever you pick are valuable reputable sites.

Many times you’ll find that those webmasters who have their sites in the top 10 or 20 in the SERPs are very choosy when they choose who they want to do a JV venture with. So you want to approach them with what you can do for them. I wouldn’t send an email out emphasizing, “Well can you mail to my list”, “What can you do for me?” You want to do the reverse. You want to show them that by doing a JV with you how it would be a benefit for them and a win-win situation.

Depending on the clout that your JV partner has, I would recommend a 50-50 split on any profit and/or leads that are attained. But sometimes if they have a much larger list than you have, more credibility and longevity they might want to do 60-40 or 70-30. That may seem unfair, but when you’re trying to get started it’s a great way to get your foot in the door. It may seem like you’re not getting as much as you deserve but there’s a lot more to the benefit that just looking at the profits you make.

You’re going to increase the size of your list and you’re going to get exposure to a large database of names that you would never have been able to get in front of. So even if they suggest what you consider an unfair split, still consider moving ahead and look at some of the other benefits you can derive from the joint venture.

Many of the joint ventures that I’ve listened in on have been via teleseminars or webinars. The 2 parties involved will give preliminary teleseminar talking about the product or service that they want to offer and then asking for people to sign up for that actually teleseminar. At the end a pitch is made for a mutual product that they’ve made together and they would split the proceeds down the middle.

Another option is giving a live event or physical workshop where the partners will take turns going up on stage and presenting the benefits of the products offered. They would have a table set up in the back where they could use some form of direct response tactics to get people to buy the various items offered and split the profits to the specified agreement.

A good way to build up relationships where you can enter into these joint ventures is to become an affiliate of a product that one of your prospective joint venture partners might be selling. If you can do well as one of their affiliates and show them that you know how to sell and drive traffic to a sales letter successfully, that’s another way of gaining credibility and increasing the chances of wanting to do a joint venture with you.

Another tactic will be to try to ask for an interview with an expert. That’s another way of establishing a relationship with a potential joint venture partner. You ask them if you would be able to interview them and get them in front of your database. No matter how successful they are they are always looking for opportunities to get in front of more people. By offering to interview them, it’s a great way of striking up a relationship.

Don’t overlook what you call your direct competition. Sometimes your direct competition may have a product or service that would be of great benefit to your list of subscribers but would not hurt your credibility in the long run. I’ve heard some marketers say they’ve made most of their money doing joint ventures and strategic alliances with their direct competitors. Don’t automatically avoid them. Check out what they have to offer and see if it would be good for your subscribers as well.

In conclusion, look for opportunities where other web masters have products that you might be able to bundle together with what you offer and create a new product. So get out there and get started and watch how doing a joint venture will grow your list in no time.